After her meeting with the Admiral, Sylvia didn’t wasn’t quite in the mood to finish her duties for the day. She placed a call to the cook asking to have dinner sent straight to her room before leaving her office. As she wandered down the hallways to her quarters, Sylvia kept replaying the conversation she had with the Admiral in her mind and didn’t pay attention to her surroundings.

“Ouch! Do you even have e—?” Ensign Boyce yelled out when she accidentally bumped into him.

Sylvia looked up and mumbled an apology before continuing to head to her room.

“What’s wrong with the Lt. Commander?” Ensign Boyce asked. “She seemed so absentminded. Do you think I should ask?”

“N-n-no,” Science Officer Lajovic replied.

“Aww, you’re no fun.”

“I b-b-bet if you a-a-asked her, y-y-you’d be put on c-c-cleaning duty for three m-m-months.”

“Eh. Never mind then.”

Upon reaching her bedroom door, Sylvia placed her hand on the doorknob and unlocked the door. She headed to the bathroom and splashed water on her face before heading straight to bed.

Why have I become so distracted after a single meeting? She thought to herself right before she drifted off into an uneasy slumber.

“Sylvia, honey, can you see it?

“See what, mommy?” Sylvia asked as she squinted at the night sky.

“Orion’s belt up in the sky. It’s right there, see?”

Sylvia lay back into the grass and struggled to identify which part of the sky her mother was pointing at.

“No, mommy. I can’t see it. There are too many stars in the sky,” Sylvia replied with a hint of defeat in her voice.

Her mother laughed as she picked Sylvia up and used her arm to point upwards at Orion’s belt.

“Do you see it now? It’s those three stars right there—if you connect the three stars together, it looks like a belt.”

“Yay! I see it!” Sylvia exclaimed.

She made an attempt to reach out with her right hand and touch the stars.

“Momma, you’re tall. Can you grab a star for me?”

Her mother laughed and said, “Unfortunately not, Sylvia. The stars are too far away from us to be touched.”

“Momma, I want a star! Please, please, please!”

“Honey, it’s not that I’m not willing, but I’m not tall enough to grab a star for you. Besides, each and every one of those stars could be home to a little girl just like you,” her mother patiently said.

“Rweally?”

“Yes, Sylvia. These stars may look small from here, but if you were to see them up close, you would look tiny right next to them.”

Sylvia’s eyes grew as wide as saucers.

“You mean, they are this big?” she asked as she stretched her arms out.

“Even bigger, honey,” her mother said while laughing.

“Momma, when I grow up, I wanna ride in a spaceship! Ima be an astronaut and see the stars up close!”

“Okay, Sylvia. Mommy will support you no matter what you want to do, but if you want to travel to see the stars, be careful though.”

“Why, mommy?”

“Some of the people on those stars aren’t as friendly as we are. They might seek to harm you,” her mother replied with a somber smile.

“Why?”

“Nobody knows. Maybe you will find out one day,” her mother said with a smile.

Her mother carefully lowered Sylvia to the ground, held her hand, and they headed home hand in hand.

“Sylvia, you should always remember, there is an entire world out there, waiting to be discovered. You should never let anything stop you from paving your own path.”

Sylvia gazed up into her mother’s eyes and nodded.

“In the future, we will be able to travel to the stars, while I may not be there to witness the achievement, I hope you will…”

“Momma will live forever!”

“Hahahaha!”

“Momma?” Sylvia asked when she suddenly felt her mother let go of her hand. “Momma, where did you go?”

She moved her head left and right trying to find where her mother went.

“Momma, I wanna go home!” Sylvia cried out, panic creeping into her voice.

Suddenly, clouds came and blocked the night sky and didn’t let a speck of light through. The grass around her dried up and, from her vantage point, it seemed the small town suddenly vanished only to be replaced by a large, scorched crater. A sense of hopelessness overwhelmed Sylvia and she curled into a ball—desperately trying to hide from the impending disaster.

“MOMMA! SAVE ME, PLEASE!” she cried out in desperation.

Sylvia shot up from her bed, gasping for air, beads of sweat dripping down her forehead. She looked to her left and saw it was only 2200 hours. She had napped for five hours straight. As she got out of bed, she noticed a blinking red light on her cell phone—it was from the chef stating he had left her dinner outside her doorway. Sylvia sighed and slowly made her way to her door. She opened the door, picked up her tray, and shuffled back inside. She placed the tray on her nightstand before grabbing her towel and headed straight to her bathroom to take a shower. As she did all this, the one thought that kept going through her head was—what did the dream mean?

It wasn’t the first time Sylvia had this dream. She had a similar dream the night before she took her entrance exam for the Academy. Her memories were all that Sylvia had left to remember her mother by, which was quite depressing, considering how hard her mother worked to get her to this point. Her mother had inspired her to pursue her dreams and encouraged her every step of the way. Every bump and bruise she encountered along the way to becoming a highly touted officer in the Armada was always alleviated with a few encouraging words from her mother. Her mother was her rock and when she lost her to a dreadful car accident, she had lost herself for some time.

For Sylvia, the dreams were a way to connect with her mother. It seemed to her, her mother used the dreams to communicate with her. It always comforted Sylvia to think that her mother was looking out for her from beyond the grave, but she constantly pondered what her dreams meant.

I have been given the opportunity of a lifetime. Would mother tell me to accept Admiral Ichika’s offer? She thought to herself.

As she felt the hot, steaming water splash on her face, she couldn’t help but remember the ending of her most recent dream. She shivered and felt goose bumps slowly creep their way up her arms.

What does it mean? Sylvia wanted to scream aloud. One moment, I’m holding hands with my mother. The next, I’m curled up in a ball, while my hometown is destroyed. What does this all mean?

After some time, Sylvia got out of the shower and toweled herself off. As she got dressed, a thought hit her—what if her mother sent the dream to remind her that her path is her own and nobody could dictate it. She was her own person, free to pursue her dreams and ambitions.

Comforted by the thought, Sylvia immediately decided to take Admiral Ichika’s offer and venture out into the unknown. She quickly headed to her computer, put her arrangements in order, set her alarm clock for 0500 hours, and headed back to bed.

When she woke up at 0500 hours, Sylvia felt adrenaline pumping through her veins. She couldn’t shake off the feeling that she was making the wrong choice for her career path.

By 0530 hours, Sylvia was out the door and making her way to the hangar where she promised to meet Admiral Ichika and inform him of her decision.

Am I making the right decision? She asked herself repeatedly as she made her way through the mess hall.

A part of her wondered whether Admiral Ichika was lying about the meeting’s agenda because she couldn’t see a scenario where the humans could take the offensive and win without suffering costly losses. It didn’t seem possible. In her opinion, in order to launch a full-scale war and win, one needed to know their opposition’s strengths and weaknesses before deciding what battle tactics could be used and unfortunately humanity knew next to nothing about the alien invaders.

For Sylvia, she could care less about the battle plans or whether humanity was going to take the offensive in the war or not. What swayed her decision was the opportunity to be amongst the first to travel to a distant solar system the likes of which had never been seen before. It was this opportunity that gave Sylvia a sense of wonder and a childlike desire for adventure. She wanted to live out her childhood dreams and prove her mother was right—dreams can come true.

I hope you will support my decision and look out for me, mother.

When she finally arrived at the hangar, she heard Admiral Ichika briefing his officers about the contents of their new mission. Sylvia hung back for a while, hoping to avoid getting noticed by Admiral Ichika and allow the Admiral to finish his briefing.

Unfortunately, it didn’t work. When the Admiral looked up mid-brief, he noticed a spot of red hair out of the corner of his eye, and paused to get a better glimpse of his eavesdropper. He noticed it was Sylvia on the outskirts of the hangar doors, looking quite unsure of herself.

“Good morning, Lt. Commander. I trust you have made up your mind?” he asked.

“Good morning, sir! Yes, I have made up my mind. I will accept your offer if you accept my two condition.”

“Oh? What are they?”

“One, I want my input to be heard for all matters—not just the ones you deem important.”

“Done.”

“Sir, you did hear that I want my input to be heard for all matters, right?”

“Yes.”

“Then why did you so easily agree to my condition without thinking about it?”

“Lt. Commander, I know your track record. Everything you say is usually thought through and without fault. I’m sure if you have something to say, it will be in my best interests to hear you out. Plus, it’s always better to start off every new partnership with honesty.

Sylvia nodded.

“Secondly, whenever we come across a habitable planetary body, I want to be part of the expeditionary groups sent to explore the planet.”

“Hahaha! Interesting, may I ask why?” Admiral Ichika asked with a wide smile.

“No,” Sylvia replied.

“Very well. Done. Welcome aboard The Executioner, Sylvia. I will introduce you to your fellow officers and crew members on a later date,” Admiral Ichika said while reaching out for a handshake.

“Remember your promises, Admiral,” Sylvia said as she shook his hand.

“I will,” the Admiral said. “Sylvia, stay for the conclusion of the briefing. I will have someone show you to your new quarters in a bit.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Fleet Admiral Hitchens has ordered his closest confidants to gather at a top-secret government base on Io. At 0600 hours, we will head out and warp towards the Andromeda galaxy before cloaking and doubling back towards Io. Nobody, outside the upper echelons of the armada, is to know the existence of this meeting. The reason I’m telling you all about the existence of this meeting is because we may be sent out to battle when the meeting is concluded. I want my officers to be as well informed as possible in order to keep the crew’s morale up.”

The Admiral paused for a moment as he solemnly gazed at the people around him.

“Which brings me to my point. None of us have ever engaged the aliens in live combat, so we don’t know what they are capable of. If we are ordered to bring the war to them, I ask that you all keep in perspective the reality of the task in front of us. We are responsible for watching each other’s backs and making sure everyone is on the same page. We will never lose to the likes of them as long as we keep to those ideals!”

“Yes, sir!”

“Let’s head out.”